Alexa issues (startup, dialing, and music)

[bgg1]

[Edit: description of contact display when connected]
I've been trying to get used to using Alexa, but it's really trying my patience. I have three main problems and plenty of little ones, but I'll stick to the major ones in this post, and hopefully someone will have a solution.

1. Startup - When I first get in the car, Alexa is unresponsive 95% of the time. It doesn't matter if I use voice activation or the button, there is no response at all for the first five minutes of my drive. Given that I have a short commute, by the time it responds I'm usually already at work so no longer needed.
2. Music - Related to the first problem, I would like to be able to use my time in the car to listen to a few minutes of news or talk shows. I used to be able to just turn on the radio to do that, but with no AM option I figured it wouldn't be a big deal as I could just stream the stations I want (NYC metro area stations are widely available to stream). Unfortunately, to do that I need to tell Alexa to play the station, which I can't when it's unresponsive. A second streaming issue is that when I get out of the car for a minute and then come back in, I have to re-request the stream rather than just have it resume. There should be an option on the next drive to continue playing whatever media was playing when you stopped the car, especially if it's within the span of a few minutes.
3. Phone - Yesterday I finally caved and gave Alexa permission to access my contact list so I could dial by voice. I tried calling my wife using her first name. First it got it completely wrong. So I used her full name. Still wrong. Then I deliberately mispronounced it (not a standard English name) and it finally got it. After a couple of tries it then would recognize the name of I said just the first name and pronounced it correctly. However, connecting is a different story. It dials and then I get a Verizon "your call cannot be completed as dialed" message. Dialing manually or via the contact list on the phone screen works fine. I noticed that the number it displays when I try calling via Alexa is in the format +2125551212 and doesn't display the contact name, versus when I call the other ways and it displays as the contact name.

Any suggestions are welcome. I've tried all the various combinations of resets, cache wipes, uninstalls, etc.

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[SreyaColvard]

When we first got our R1S Dual Max in Nov we signed into Alexa. We had a lot of the same issues you described. The maps wouldn't work, the app was stuck on top of the screen. We had started to face other issues with the new car in the first week and had to do hard resets to fix that. The Alexa app interfered with everything..we signed out and the car didn't work right and went to the workshop for replacing a lot of hardware. We haven't signed back on Alexa since and don't plan to. But good to know you too had the same issues. I think the Alexa app messed up the software screen.

 

[GreenJohn42]

Alexa does not work correctly due to authentication issues - the software is a little bit too slow. This creates issues with Spotify integrations too. Rivian is working on a larger Alexa update but it's frustrating at best right now.

I have to log in and out of spotify every couple of days or Alexa will claim I don't have a spotify account.

 

[bgg1]

Follow up after latest update (2025.10.30):

1. Startup - possibly a bit better, but hard to tell for sure. Definitely not great.
2. Music - Same wishlist as before. With the newest update, however, things have gotten much worse. It used to be when I asked Alexa to play 770, it would say something along the lines of "playing 770 on iHeart radio" and then play it. Now it tries Sirius instead, and as I do not have a subscription I get nothing playing. I have to now say "play 770 on iHeart radio," which frankly sounds ridiculous and is inefficient. I tried playing on Amazon music as a command (thinking maybe that was what had originally been the response when it worked) and instead it played Melissa Etheridge, because apparently, to Alexa, the words "seven seventy" and "Melissa Etheridge" sound identical.
3. Phone - Just awful. It takes minutes to load up my contact list so I can physically tap on a contact to call. Every time I try to voice dial it adds a plus before the number, making it an unreachable number. I can't find any way to either get rid of the plus (ideal) or add a 1 (less ideal, but should work) for US numbers. The only way I can voice dial is by actually saying the number, which really only helps for a couple of contacts, because who remembers phone numbers anymore?
4. Phone (part 2) - Still constantly unpairing. Takes 20 minutes to repair. Always a treat to find out when the phone is in my pocket and I'm struggling to open the door with hands full.

If only there were two existing options for smoothly integrating mobile devices with automobiles I bet problems 1-3 could be solved...

 

[electruck]

#2 just sounds like typical behavior of any Alexa device. If you haven't already, download the Alexa app on your phone and then go into Settings > Music & Podcasts and set your default music service to iHeartRadio. After you do that, Alexa should use iHeartRadio when you say "play 770" without having to specify "on iHeartRadio" in the command.

 

[electruck]

Also, pay attention to the Alexa icon on the center display. If it is dark gray, she's offline. Wait until the icon is light gray indicating she is online before giving commands.

More often than not, when I get in my R1S, Alexa asks me what I would like for her to play. But I have a solid wifi connection in my garage so she's always online and ready when I load up. there is typically a connectivity dropout shortly after I pull out where the vehicle is switching from wifi to cellular. During the dropout, Alexa won't respond (the icon reflect offline status) and whatever music I'm listening to (via Amazon Music) drops out briefly before resuming. Does your R1 connect to wifi when parked at home or is it strictly cellular connectivity?

One thing I've noticed about cellular is that you can have a strong signal but still have poor data transmission in areas with high cellular device density resulting in network congestion. When this happens, music playback starts to buffer and Alexa will struggle to respond. That's an ATT issue but one which could be relevant to your observed behaviors (items #1 and #2, at least)

PaaK unpairing sounds like a Bluetooth issue. My phone has never unpaired in over 2 years of ownership. And regarding contacts, mine are available immediately after my phone connects. But I also only have maybe 200 or so contacts. How many contacts are on your phone and what phone and OS do you have?

 

[bgg1]

Thanks for the detailed answer and suggestions. Once I get my phone to re-pair I'll try some of them.

#2 just sounds like typical behavior of any Alexa device. If you haven't already, download the Alexa app on your phone and then go into Settings > Music & Podcasts and set your default music service to iHeartRadio. After you do that, Alexa should use iHeartRadio when you say "play 770" without having to specify "on iHeartRadio" in the command.

I have the Alexa app but it never seemed to me to really be connected with the Rivian Alexa (not listed as a device, phone data not sharing, etc.).
That being said, I went in to the music settings on the phone and I see two areas where I can change the default - one under family and one under my name. Which one does the Rivian fall under?

Also, pay attention to the Alexa icon on the center display. If it is dark gray, she's offline. Wait until the icon is light gray indicating she is online before giving commands.

I'm aware of that, but it doesn't change the fact that it's quite slow to connect.

More often than not, when I get in my R1S, Alexa asks me what I would like for her to play.

Never experienced anything like that. Is there a setting somewhere on either the car or phone to do that?

But I have a solid wifi connection in my garage so she's always online and ready when I load up. there is typically a connectivity dropout shortly after I pull out where the vehicle is switching from wifi to cellular. During the dropout, Alexa won't respond (the icon reflect offline status) and whatever music I'm listening to (via Amazon Music) drops out briefly before resuming. Does your R1 connect to wifi when parked at home or is it strictly cellular connectivity?

Interesting point. It does connect to WiFi at home but maybe I'll try disabling that. However, I do get the slow start even when leaving from work, where it doesn't connect to WiFi, so I doubt that's the (main) issue.

PaaK unpairing sounds like a Bluetooth issue. My phone has never unpaired in over 2 years of ownership. And regarding contacts, mine are available immediately after my phone connects. But I also only have maybe 200 or so contacts. How many contacts are on your phone and what phone and OS do you have?

Android. Probably about 300 contacts. Bluetooth works for some aspects - the audio stays connected, and when I come close to the car I can manually open it with the app, but I can't drive without using the card, and I can't do anything remotely.

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